Extension track or apron for overhead tramways.



PATENTED 001?. 7, 1905.

A. E. BROWN.

EXTENSION TRACK 0R APRON FOR OVERHEAD TRAMWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22, 1904.

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No. 802,134. PATENTED OUT. 17, 1905'. A. B. BROWN. EXTENSION TRACK 0R APRON FOR OVERHEAD TRAMWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 22, 1904.

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g Q A 770% No. 802,134. PATENTED OCT. 17, 1905. A. B. BROWN.

EXTENSION TRACK 0R APRON FOR OVERHEAD TRAMWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED DEU.22, 1904.

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EXTENSION TRACK 0R APRON FOR OVERHEAD TRAMWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED 1130.22, 1904.

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ALEXANDER E. BROWN. OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BROWN HOISTING MACHINERY COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

EXTENSION TRACK OR APFiON FOR OVERHEAD TRAIVIWAYS- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 17, 1905 Application filed December 22, 1904. Serial No. 238,011.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER E. BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in I the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Extension Track or Apron for Overhead Tramways, as to which I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de scription, due reference being had and intended to the several drawings accompanying this specification, and which I mean to have regarded as a part of the same.

My invention is especially concerned with that class of structures in general use for the handling of cargoes of ore, coal, and other material wherein a bridge or overhead truss is mounted upon or spans the dock and carries a trolley and bucket to and from the points of loading and unloading. A necessary adjunct to implements of this nature is some form of track extension at the water end of the same that may be raised or withdrawn from interference with the masts, smoke-stacks, or rigging when a vessel is being brought within or removed from the range of its operation. This feature has heretofore been chiefly supplied by the addition to the outer end of the bridge and tramway of a hinged cantaliver or apron carrying a track whose normal position is a prolongation of the main track of the bridge proper, but which can be raised to a vertical position whenever the vessel upon being moved would otherwise encounter the same. While arrangements of the kind just referred to have well served their purpose, the actual operation of raising and lowering them is slow, requires no inconsiderable expenditure of power, and subjects the sheaves and other parts involved to an undesirable strain. So, too, in the case of vessels carrying stays between the masts it is plain that in order to reach the hatches beneath the same, the apron cannot be lowered while the vessel is in its place at the dock, but that in each instance it will have to be brought into its place sidewise after the apron itself has been lowered to its normal position.

It is the purpose of my present invention to provide a form of track extension of the general character specified that shall be comparatively simple in construction, easy and quick of operation, and that can be adjusted for service beneath stays or like obstructions to vertically-moving aprons without lateral or other special movement of the vessel and at the same time with a minimum expenditure of power. I accomplish this purpose by the device and construction I shall now proceed to more fully describe, referring to the several drawings, wherein similar parts will be found to be designated by the same letters in each case, and which illustrate the particular form of construction I have chosen to embody in my invention, although, of course, the latter may be carried into effect under other modifications of the structure shown.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a hoisting and conveying machine equipped with my said extension track or apron. ig. 2 is an enlarged view of certain details of the same. Fig. 3 contains a front view of a provision I have added for taking up slack rope when the apron' is being closed. Fig. 4 in the full lines shows the apron when opened and in the dotted lines when closed. Fig. 5 is an enlarged side view of the working joint involved in the structure, and Fig. 6 is a sectional plan view of that portion of the framework which carries the apron.

In said figures, A represents the apron proper, which, as shown, consists of two parallelly-related inturned channel-bars B B, whose lower flanges correspond with and constitute a prolongation of the trackway of the main tramway T when said apron is lowered to a normal position. In such position the apron A abuts against said tramway T, along the dotted line :0 y in Fig. 5,) and both tramway and extension-track are preferably given a downward inclination from and with respect to the supporting pier or tower P.

tis the trolley, with its suspended grabbucket, and Rthe racking-rope reeved around the sheaves sand .9, located, respectively, at the outer end of the apron A and the inner end of the tramway T. Said rope is operated by the drum (Z (shown in dotted lines) within the tower P.

g g are guys connecting the apron A with the mast M, surmounting the tower P. Said guys should be flexible through either the whole or a portion of their lengths.

At the inner end of the apron A is a crossbeam B, riveted across the top, having downwardly-extending channel beams p, in the ICC lower ends of which are firmly seated two horizontal journals or axletrees a a. Upon the outer end of said axletrees are rollers D D within upright channels or guides C and on their inner ends the rollers D D in hearing, respectively, againstthe upright I-beam or guide-rails d d. Said guides (land rails (1 cl project above the trackway T to a distance, as will hereinafter appear, to suit the working requirements of the apparatus in question. Attached to said axletrees at the points o b are apron-closing ropes R R, which lead upward around the sheaves 0 0' t0 and around the operating-drum E. At the same points 5 b are also attached apron-opening ropes R R, which lead downwardly oversheaves c 0 to and around the drum E reversely from the ropes R R. e

Upon referring to Fig. 1, two several positions of the apron A in its course from an open to a closed position are indicated by the dotted lines A and A. It is manifest as said arm or apron A swings or oscillates in toward a vertical from its normal place, as denoted by the full lines, that inasmuch as it is held and limited to an arc by the guy g, that connects its outer extremity with the fixed mast M, its inner end, actuated by revolutions of the drum IE, will be constrained to rise vertically along and against the guides C and upright beams or rails d, and also that during such operation, as indicated in the drawings, the inner end of said apron will have substantially traversed its full course along saidguides and beams when the other end of the same has completed no more than one-half the distance to a vertical, and that in this process by reason of the disturbance and readjustment of the distance between the tension-sheavessand s a considerable slackening will take place in the racking-rope R and at a varying rate. To provide for equalizing this, I introduce a supplemental feature that consists of an A-frame M, fixedly mounted on the axletrees a a at the points it. As indicated in the drawings, Figs. 2 and 3, the upper end of M is slidably supported by means of guide-arms, one of which is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, that extend inwardly from M at its top and carry two horizontally-related rollers in bearing, respectively, against the opposite sides of a guide-rod that extends up and down the mast M for the purpose. Midway of said A-frame and below the rope R is a cross-roller c and vertically above the rope R when in its normal position is located a second roller 0 journaled to a hanger-like arm a, pivoted to any suitable part of the fixed structurepertaining to the pier P. The roller c should be given a weight somewhat exceeding the weight of the slack it is to carry, with due allowance for friction.

Having thus pointed out the constituent elements or features that compose the inventhe same.

tion in questiomthe manner of operating the same is readily apparent. When it is desired v to close or withdraw said apron from its extended relation with respect to the tramway T, the rope R is wound in upon the drum E, which operation will release a corresponding section of the rope R and at the same time facilitate the ascent of the inner arm of the apron A along the guides C and rails d d.

In this movement the rollers 0 and 0 will in the first stages successively encounter the racking-rope R, and the former will carry the slack upward, the weighted roller 0 at all timesyield-ing about its pivot to the extent required for a proper counterpoise'in reduction of said slack. When an opening of the apron with respect to the tram-way T is to be effected, the drum E is of course operated reversely, whereupon the ropes R and R will gradually lower the inner end of said apron down the guides C and rails 61 until the normal position is reached and the apron is extended.

Of course there are details that may be substituted in place of many of those that enter into the specific device hereinbefore shown and described without varying the essence of A compensating spring, for instance, would in many respects answer instead of the weighted roller 0 Another arrangement might be interchanged for the joint whereby the upward movement of said apron is effected or other details relating to said movement introduced.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with an overhea d-tramway structure, of an extension track, or apron, radially connected to said structure from its outer end, and pivoted, or hinged, at its inner end, to movable parts in bearing against upright guides thereon provided for the purpose, a trolley mounted upon said track, or apron, with racking-rope connecting the same with suitable actuating mechanism therefor, a mast, or other projection, fixedly mounted upon said movable parts, provided with a suitable device for encountering and carrying upward said racking-rope when said mast is elevated, together with suitable means for raising and lowering said inner end and the parts to which it is pivoted, or hinged in bearing against said guides, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with an overhead-tramway structure, of an extension track, or apron, radially connected to said structure from its outer end, and pivoted or hinged, at its inner end, to movable parts in bearing against up right guides thereon, provided for the purpose,a trolley mounted on said track, or apron, with racking-rope connecting the same with suitable actuating mechanism therefor, a mast, or like projection, fixedly mounted upon said movable parts in their bearing against said guides, substantially as shown and described.

ALEXANDER E. BROWN.

In presence of- R. G. CLAPP, RICHARD DEVENS. 

